Stupid Phone - Stupid Me - Stupid You

Well the unthinkable happened to me recently - my cell phone died.  It wasn't a good death either.  There were tears, bargaining, denial, anger, and then finally acceptance.  My phone had been dropping calls more and more often until it reached a point where I couldn't even keep a call long enough to say, "my stupid phone is..."

So as all techies would suggest - just power cycle it (turn it off and then turn it on again).  So I took out the battery, counted to 10, put it all back together and turned it back on.  This was when I started to realize it was the beginning of the end of the relationship between my phone and me. 

As I went to check the status, I noticed my new screen:

At this point, my phone was capable of making outbound calls, but without a screen, I couldn't pull any numbers from my contacts, nor could I see who called me, nor read text messages.  So if I knew the phone number, I could use my phone.  If I was able to answer immediately, I could use my phone.  All other situations left it worthless.

At this point, it was time to tell M that I needed a new phone:

Okay, for the record, I lightly tossed my phone against the wall and only the battery came out.  If you don't believe me, just ask the wall.  Furthermore, this was after it stopped working.  I had already mentioned that I was going through a stage known as anger.  Well the way I could tell I was officially in the anger stage was when I noticed my phone having a hard time staying in my hand and having more of an attraction with the far wall and then immediately after that the carpet.

Once M finally realized it was time to replace my phone, she checked our carrier's website to see when my contract was up.  Turns out my contract expired soon, but the phone I wanted was going to cost $600!  Assuming the price on the website was more than likely incorrect, and that an actual store would have an employee with a pulse and the authority to make overrides, I decided to venture to the nearest ***carrier name withheld for legality purposes*** store to see what sort of deal I could cut prior to my contract expiring.

After explaining (and showing) my dilemma to the store clerk:

To be fair, I tried a few login/password combinations before giving up, but for the sake of continuity, I have removed that process from this sketch.  In addition, I must admit that I have failed myself as a human being in protecting my personal information.  Since 2003, I have been HIPAA certified and my certification is renewed religiously each and every year.  So standing in a crowded store with this clerk giving her all of my user names and passwords within ear shot of at least 9 people does not reflect well on my professional training.

Then the rest of my experience at the store went something like this:

So ends the first trip to the store to replace my phone.  The rest of the story goes a little something like this:

• M called the carrier directly to inquire about options, turns out the rep was very helpful and said that the store manager has the ability to allow a phone purchase prior to the contract end.  The rep also said he would call M back in a few days to see if it happened.  If not, he would just overnight a new phone to me.
• M took my old phone to the store where the manager had no clue what the hell she was talking about.
• The rep never called back so M called again to inquire about just having a phone sent overnight.  The rep she spoke with previously was unavailable and the current rep could not do anything since the account was already "in process" by another person.
• Several days later, the original rep called M back and said a new phone would arrive the next day.
• The next day, the phone never arrived.
• The day after that, the phone finally arrived and I now have a new iPhone 4.

For those of you that are more visual, I have prepared a series of pictures depicting the 8 stages it took to get this phone:

Needless to say, M had way much more patience than I would have, and I owe her for all of her hard work trying to get this resolved.  If it were me doing it on my own, I would still be bitter with a crappy phone with a jacked up screen.  Thank you, M, I love you!

So that's the story of my Stupid Phone.  The story of Stupid Me is the fact that I never took the time to archive any of the contact numbers I have been accruing over the past 7-8 years.  That means I have nothing now, and I get to start all over again trying to regain numbers from people that I may not have spoken to in years.  That's where Stupid You comes in.  If I don't see you or speak with you regularly, chances are we probably won't anytime soon unless you reach out to me and give me your contact information again.  Also, if you have recently called me or texted without a response back, chances are I probably don't know about it.  For some of you, this may be an easy decision.  For others, this may be the one chance you've been waiting for to get me out of your life forever.  And before you say it, NOT EVERYONE IS ON FACEBOOK!  For example, I have a friend that refuses to join FB because of his involvement with another acronym that starts with FB_.

So for those of you who take the time to reach out to me, I say good for you.  Thanks for keeping in touch and strengthening our friendship (I hope I don't owe you money).  For those of you who choose to let whatever it was we had together die, then to you I say - So long and thanks for all the fish.

The choice is yours...choose wisely.

-Cheers!